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In the past three weeks, the Utah Jazz have seen Dante Exum come back from a torn ACL and prove he's capable of providing valuable rotation minutes, Rudy Gobert looks on the verge of a breakout season, and George Hill's cerebral nature at point guard could be what Utah needs at the position.
At the same time, injuries have again plagued the Jazz. Joe Johnson is struggling with his shot, and Alec Burks is still recovering from an outpatient knee surgery in June that was deemed minor by all involved.
A lot has taken place for the Jazz in the past month. Through it all, players and coaches say it's still difficult to get a correct read on this team, heading into next Tuesday's regular season opener against the Trail Blazers in Portland, Ore.
On one hand, it's easy to take positives from the preseason. On the other, the Jazz haven't learned as much as they would have liked to by now.
"It's tough because we don't have a full roster right now," Hill said. "And without a full roster, it's kind of hard to see exactly where we're at. Our focus right now is to get everyone healthy, but with the guys we have in there, I think we're moving in the right direction."
Besides Burks, who the Jazz say is still in the rehab stage, Gordon Hayward is recovering from a broken finger. Derrick Favors has a knee injury and hasn't played since the preseason opener. Rodney Hood was in and out of the lineup during the past three weeks with a sprained hand. He played against Portland on Wednesday and declared himself ready to go.
With the moves the Jazz made during the summer, depth was touted as a strength. And with changes in the roster, players like Exum and Gobert have been given extra room to grow.
Exum's offense is still a work in progress, but he has clearly improved in the year he's missed, and can help the Jazz in defending the bushel of quick point guards that are plentiful throughout the NBA.
Gobert has been dominant on both ends during the preseason, averaging 14.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in 24 minutes. He's gotten stronger in terms of catching the ball in traffic. He's finishing with authority around the rim and rebounding the ball well while still being a terrific rim protector.
Without Hayward for sure and probably without Burks, the Jazz know they will take a bit of a step back offensively, at least initially. So, coach Quin Snyder knows his team will have to be sound on defense. Getting Favors back would help in that regard. He's been running gingerly for most of the month, missing time because of a sore knee that wasn't initially thought to be serious.
The organization hopes Favors will be healthy enough to play against the Blazers, and if he is, that would be big for the Jazz. In his one preseason game, Favors scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in three quarters of action. He displayed a smooth jumper and was a handful to deal with on the interior. If he can play, the Jazz have a bigger margin for error offensively. Even so, Snyder says his team still has room for growth.
"The takeaway from the preseason for us is that we're a ways away," Snyder said. "We're going to have to be very good defensively for us to be successful. That doesn't mean that we can't be competitive right now. On a lot of levels, we're still trying to figure out where our shots are going to be coming from."
Johnson and Hood are going to have to carry a lot of the load offensively, particularly Hood. Perhaps because of Hayward's injury, the Jazz virtually bubble-wrapped Hood, limiting his minutes when he did play and holding him out completely when he felt pain in his hand.
Hood looked rusty on Wednesday, missing shots that he normally makes. But he's healthy, and that's the main thing. His best game of the preseason was against the Los Angeles Clippers on the road, when he scored 17 points and found a nice rhythm. Hood said the next few days are going to be important to him.
"I'm going to be ready to go," Hood said. "I think we're going to do well, and I think we've gotten better with every game. A lot of guys have been stepping up and doing good things. We've been defending well. We're not where we want to be, but we've made strides and we just have to keep it going. It's going to be a big five days heading into the start of the regular season."
Twitter: @tribjazz —
Jazz preseason at a glance
The Good • Dante Exum is healthy, and looks even better physically than he did before his ACL injury. Rudy Gobert has improved over the summer, and this Jazz team is as deep as advertised.
The Bad • Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks will both miss the regular season opener. Joe Johnson is struggling with his shot, and the Jazz have been spotty shooting the 3-pointer.
For openers • Utah has a big challenge ahead of it surviving the beginning of the regular season. Eight of the first 11 games are on the road, and the Jazz will face Portland, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks, all within the first two weeks.
Jazz at Blazers
P Tuesday, 8 p.m.
TV • ROOT